Fastest internet connection ever recorded in UK

Kate McCann is a reporter at City A.M. She covers politics and insurance and can be contacted at kate.mccann@cityam.com.

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Kate McCann

THE FASTEST ever broadband speed has been achieved during a test in London by BT and Alcatel-Lucent.

The joint team said speeds of 1.4 terabits per second were achieved during the test on a 255 mile link between the BT tower in central London and Ipswich – enough to send 44 uncompressed HD films in one second.

The experiment will give hope of a better connection to internet users around the country, as it is the first time such speeds have been achieved on the existing network. Neil McRae, chief network architect at BT said: “This outstanding achievement demonstrates that BT can easily introduce new features and technologies across our core network, maximising the efficiency of our existing infrastructure.”

The team used fibre cables, which have already been laid in many parts of the UK, to send the signal – increasing the speed by upping the capacity of the cables. One expert likened it to making motorway lanes smaller to allow more traffic to use the road. The demand for faster internet grows by around 35 per cent each year but providers are struggling to keep up, a spokesman for Alcatel-Lucent said.